An expert system is a combination of software and hardware which is designed to aid human thinking in order to conclude in a particular profession e.g. Surgery.

A knowledge engineer encodes the information given by the experts into a format an expert system can understand and manipulate from.

Expert system shells are pieces of software which contain;

· The user interface
· A format for declarative knowledge in the knowledge base
· An inference engine

The major advantage of a customized shell is that the results predicted are the ones you get depending on certain geographical areas. E.g. criminal punishments in one country for certain crimes vary from one place to another.

User interface is the code that controls the dialog between the user and the system

Knowledge base is the raw information which is processed. Everything depends on the knowledge base. If any information in that section is incorrect, the outcomes will be unexpected or in most cases wrong and potentially dangerous.

Inference engine

is the code at the core of the system derives recommendations from the knowledge base and problem-specific data from the working storage.

How a typical expert system is set up, maintained and operated.


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Common sense knowledge is when a designed expert system does not reason appropriately followed by the user taking an action which s/he finds right according to the situation s/he is in.


Examples of expert systems;
· Diagnostic applications, servicing:
i) People
ii)Machinery
· Play chess
· Make financial planning decisions
· Configure computers
· Monitor real time systems
· Underwrite insurance policies
· Perform many other services which previously required human expertise